Crazy Ex Boyfriend
by TaliaThompson
Summary: Clay and Stella had just started dating when a crazy ex boyfriend shows up.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys. This is my first ever fanfiction. It's just something that popped into my head that would leave so I decided I would try putting it down on paper. I'll try to update daily, or at least every other day. Hope you guys like it.**

* * *

 **Two months ago**

"I'm Sorry Mike but this just isn't working out" Stella said to the man she had been dating for the last couple weeks. She was no longer feeling the connection they had on their first date and wanted to end things before they got any more serious.

"Come on baby… please don't do this." He pleaded, attempting to gently grab her hands to pull her in, but she stepped back just as he reached causing him to miss. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Do you really have to ask that Mike? We've been dating for three and a half weeks and you already have to know every little thing I do, who I'm talking to, who I look at when we go out, where I'm at when I'm not with you. You're obsessed! It's suffocating and I just can't do it anymore!" Stella told him as she grabbed her purse and walked out of the bar.

"Come on babe! Give me another chance. I promise I'll be better. I promise!" Mike continued pleading making a scene.

 _How is this guy this attached already? We barely know each other._ Stella thought as she ignored Mike's pleas and headed for her car. As she reached into her purse to grab her keys Mike came up behind her.

"You're really going to do this?" He asked, almost trapping her between him and his car.

'Yeah Mike. I am. Now please back and let me get in my car." Stella said sternly.

"I swear to God you're going to fucking regret this Stella!" He said, showing no emotion other than hatred on his face.

The look on his face was enough to make Stella feel uneasy. Instead of heading home she went to a friend's house where she spent the night, afraid that if she went home alone Mike would show up and continue begging for another chance or retaliate for her dumping him.

She checked her phone the next morning and was relieved to see no messages or missed calls from Mike. Her friend went with her back to her house just to make sure everything was good. Once everything was clear her friend left and Stella sat down on the couch, turning on the news and laughed at herself, feeling like she overreacted. _Mike's harmless. He would never do anything crazy._

Little did Stella know that Mike actually followed her to her friend's house last night, parking down the street so he wouldn't be spotted. He followed them back her apartment, staying a few cars back. He sat outside her apartment and constantly replayed every single word Stella had said to him when she broke up with him. "Obsessed?" He snickered. "She hasn't seen anything close to obsessed yet."

* * *

 **Three weeks ago**

Stella went out with two of her friends for the first time since breaking up with Mike to celebrate passing a few big tests at school.

"That guy's cute Stella." One of her friends, Molly, said, pointing to two guys sitting at the bar.

"He sure is but I am definitely not looking for any sort of relationship at the moment. Not after the last guy." Stella laughed.

"Oh come on. It's been over a month since you dumped him and you haven't heard a word from him since. Was he obsessive…? Hell yeah but he's gone now and it's time to move on."

"I don't know guys. I'm starting to think all men are crazy and I clearly don't know how to pick them. Every guy I've dated turned out to either be a dog or certifiably cra…" Stella said, but before she could finish her sentence, one of her friends stood up from their table, walked over to the bar and introduced herself.

"Hi. My name's Kate." Kate said extending out her hand.

"Brian."

"Clay." They both said shaking Kate's hand.

"This might sound a little forward but my friend over there thinks you're hot. She's just too shy to do anything about it." Kate said while locking eyes with Clay…then turned around to Brian and continued "…and I think you're hot."

The rest of the night Stella, Molly, Kate, Clay and Brian hung out a table, totally hitting it off. Clay noticed Stella getting a little tired and offered to take her home. She accepted.

Clay and Stella said their goodbye's and headed out to his car where he opened the car door for her to get in. Stella looked at him with a confused little smirk on her face.

"What is it?" Clay asked her, seeing the slight confusion on her face.

"It's nothing. I'm just trying to figure out your game."

"My game?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"You just seem too perfect. There has to be some sort of flaw with you."

"Says who?"

"Says me. Every guy I've ever dated either cheated and was insane."

"Oh, were dating. That escalated quickly." Clay joked.

Stella hit him on shoulder laughing at cheesy jokes. She then got in the car and directed to Clay to her apartment. Once they arrived, Clay parked and walked Stella up to her front door.

"Want to come inside?" She asked him.

"I can't tonight. Busy day tomorrow, but I'll text you in the morning. Maybe we can catch dinner or something on Sunday?" He asked her.

Stella smiled. "Busy saving the world? But I would really like that."

"Something like that. But perfect. Have a great night and I'll talk to you tomorrow." He said as he turned to walk down the steps. Before he got too far Stella grabbed him and gave him a long, passionate kiss.

When they were done, they just looked at each other and smiled. Clay made his way down the stairs and about halfway down turned around to get one last look at Stella, where she was still standing at her door just watching him. One Clay was out of sight, Stella went into her apartment, leaned against the door and smiled. _I really like this guy_ she thought to herself. She then proceeded to get ready for bed.

What she didn't know was that Mike had seen the entire thing. Since the day Stella had dumped him, he had developed an unhealthy obsession. Stalking her every move from a distance. Seeing her so happy with a guy that was not him only escalated his obsession and he knew exactly what he had to do about it.


	2. Chapter 2

Stella's phone lit up early the next morning…" Hey beautiful, just wanted to say hope you have a great day and I'll talk to you tomorrow so we can set up a time for dinner." She smiled reading the text from Clay and responded that she also hope he had a great day and that she was looking forward to dinner. She knew Clay was going to be busy with work all day and that she wasn't going to hear from him until the following morning. She set her phone down and continued on with her busy day.

When she checked her phone a few hours late she was surprised to see so many texts.

"Hey babe."

"I miss you so much."

"Stella?"

"Hello?"

"Are you ignoring me?"

"You bitch."

"You are such a slut. Does that other guy know about me?"

There were more but she stopped reading at the one. _Does the other guy know about me? How the hell does he know about Clay_ she thought?

After thinking about it for a few minutes, she decided not to text Mike back which only aggravated him more.

"You tell your new boyfriend I'm gonna fucking kill him! If I can't have you then neither can he."

She called Kate, filling her in on the messages from Mike and then asked if she could stay at her place for the night. Kate said absolutely and even invited Molly over for a girl's night full of nothing but wine, movies and chocolate.

"So are you going to tell Clay about your creepy stalker?" Molly asked.

"I don't know." Stella thought for a minute. "I feel like Mike's just having a hard time accepting the break up and keeps thinking I'll give him another chance. I'm hoping if I keep ignoring him he'll get the hint."

"Stella! You guys only dated for a couple weeks. No offense but he should be way over you by now." Kate chimed in.

"Some people fall really fast. Obviously Mike's one of those people."

"Why are you defending him? He's been harassing you all day and uhhhh did you forget that he threatened to kill Clay!? Don't you think he deserves a heads up? How did he even know about him?" Kate said becoming slightly annoyed that Stella was defending Mike.

"I'm not defending him. I just don't think he's capable of hurting anyone. He's all talk."

The three girls continued on with their conversation about Mike for a little longer before dropping the subject and watching their movie…unknowing to the fact that Mike was sitting in his car right outside Kate's house.

* * *

Clay arrived at Stella's on Sunday evening around 4:00 to pick her up and take her to dinner. It was their first official date. He decided to take her to one of the best steakhouses in town that had excellent views of the ocean.

"Wow. You look gorgeous." Clay said as Stella opened her front door.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She winked at him.

"I made reservations 6:00. I thought we could maybe walk around on the boardwalk before we eat. Maybe catch a few rides, play a few games."

"That sounds perfect. Let me just grab my purse."

They got about halfway down the stairs when Stella realized that she had left her phone on her charger.

"Oh crap. I forgot my phone. One second." She said as she turned back around to go grab it. Once she grabbed it, she stuck it in her purse, locked her door and rejoined Clay, who remained in the middle of the stairs waiting. They walked to his car where he again opened the door for her.

They got to the boardwalk around 4:30. They went on a few rides then decided to play a couple games.

"Hey. Let's play this one." Clay suggested pointing at a gun range looking game.

"I have no idea what to do. I've never even shot a gun before." Stella said giggly.

"It's easy. Here, I'll help you." He said as he put the gun in her hands then stood close against her back with his arms around her and hands on top of hers helping her aim. They did pretty well, hitting the target every time and winning a stuffed animal.

"Let me see how good you are when you're NOT helping someone." Stella challenged. She knew he had to be good. He wouldn't be a SEAL if he wasn't, but she wasn't expecting him to be that good. He hit dead center of the target on every shot allowing them to upgrade her stuffed animal to one of the bigger ones.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." She joked.

"Oh that was nothing." He said casually and winking at her.

"It's almost 5:30. Think we have time to drop all this stuff off at the car before dinner?" She asked.

"Yeah. Absolutely. Let go." He said.

They got to the car and put all the things they won in the trunk. They then made their way to the restaurant where they arrived just in time to be seated at their table.

"This has to be the best table! Look at that view." She said impressed.

"That view is nothing compared to you." He said as he was looking at her.

"You're the sweetest. You know that? How'd you even manage to get reservations here? It's like impossible!"

"One of the guys on my team has a sister who just so happens to be the manager. She was able to hook me up."

"You guys are pretty close aren't you? The guys on your team." She asked.

"Super close. I'd die for any one of them and I know for a fact they would do the same."

"Hopefully it never comes to that." Stella said. "Tell me about them."

"They're awesome. He said. Then proceeded to go into detail about each of the guys on his team. He got about halfway when Stella's face went blank, almost as if she had seen a ghost. "Everything ok?"

"What? Yeah sorry. I just thought I saw someone I knew but I think I'm just seeing things." Except she knew she wasn't seeing things. She was listening to Clay talking about his teammates when something caught her eye off to the side causing her to take a quick look. As she looked she swore she saw mike walking by, staring at her, but when she did a double take he was gone.

"Are you sure? You look a little freaked out? He said beginning to worry about her.

"Yeah. I promise I'm fine. I think the weekends just catching up with me and making me tired."

"We can head home if you'd like?"

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No. Not at all. I had a long day yesterday and am pretty tired myself." He assured her.

Clay payed the bill and the two of them walked hand in hand to the car. Right as they walked up to his car they noticed broken glass all over the ground and his windows smashed out. Stella stopped in her tracks and covered her mouth.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Clay said putting his hands on his head and looking around to see if anyone else's cars had been broken into or if he saw anyone that looked suspicious. He opened his car door to check what was stolen and was surprised to see everything was still where he left it. All that was left behind was a post it note stuck on his steering wheel with the words "She's mine. Back off or else" on it.

"This can't be happening" Stella said as tears started rolling down her face. Clay pulled her in for a hug trying to comfort her. "Clay there's something I need to tell you. I know who did this."


	3. Chapter 3

"Clay there's something I need to tell you. I know who did this." Those words swirled around Clay's head as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"What? What do you mean you know who did this?" He asked her with confusion written all over his face.

"It's a long story. I wasn't going to say anything but I didn't think it was going to get this far." She confessed.

"Stella! What are you talking about?" He asked still confused and now slightly annoyed that she was hiding things from him.

"It's an ex-boyfriend. We only dated for like three weeks and he hasn't been taking it well. He started texting me, threatening you, freaking out on me. I didn't even stay at my own place last night because of him."

"You didn't think I had a right to know about that!?" Clay said annoyed but lightened up a bit when he noticed how upset Stella was getting.

"I swear I didn't think he would act on anything. If I did I would have told you… I just didn't want it to scare you away."

"You do know what I do for a living right? It's going to take a lot more than a crazy ex-boyfriend to scare me away Stella."

Stella shook her head understanding, then apologized for not telling him sooner.

Once things were cleaned up and a police report filed they headed back to Stella's apartment. "Will you stay the night?" Stella asked him, afraid to be there alone.

"Of course." Clay said noticing how on edge she was. They walked up the stairs and into her apartment where Stella told him everything she knew about Mike, which wasn't a whole lot considering they had only dated for a few weeks. Based on what Stella told and showed him, Clay came to the conclusion that Mike was manipulative, obsessive and crazy.

Little did he know just exactly how manipulative, obsessive and crazy Mike really was.

* * *

After bashing in the windows of Clays car, Mike went home and started formulating a plan but he was going to need help. He saw Clay at the shooting game and knew he was deadly accurate. He heard Stella multiple times mention to her friends that he was a SEAL, which meant he knew how to defend himself.

Mike knew he was bigger than Clay but wasn't sure if he alone would be enough to take him down. He needed his friends and he knew just who to go to.

He gave himself a black eye and walked out the door. He drove his car to the sketchy part of the neighborhood and knocked on the door of a rundown house. Inside was one of his best friends from high school who went down a dangerous path in life causing him and Mike to go their separate ways.

"Mike? What are you doing here? What happened to your eye?" Paul asked.

"I need your help Paul. I didn't know who else to go to."

"Whatever you need Mike. Come in." Paul said as he stepped out of the doorway allowing Mike to enter the house.

Mike proceeded to tell Paul how his girlfriend Stella was cheating on him with some Navy SEAL guy and when he confronted the guy about it he punched him, leaving him with a black eye.

"We'll get you some payback Mike. Don't you worry." Paul assured him

* * *

The night was relatively quiet. Stella and Clay both took comfort in each other's company. Stella feeling better that she wasn't alone and Clay content in knowing that he didn't have to worry about something happening to her and him not being there to stop it.

Throughout the whole week Clay continued staying at Stella's place causing them to get closer and closer. The only time they were together was when they had to go to work.

Mike's stalking had practically stopped, or so they thought, so they were both beginning to feel better about that.

* * *

Clay had been sent on a short mission with Bravo team, only to be gone for the weekend. He had an uneasy feeling about leaving Stella alone but felt better in the fact that they hadn't heard anything from Mike all week.

"Relax man. I'm sure she'll be fine." Hayes said trying to comfort Clay. Clay had told them all about Mike and the things he had done.

"Yeah I know. I'm just stuck in my head." Clay admitted.

"Well get out of it. We need you level headed on this."

During the mission things went a bit a sideways. The Intel they were given was slightly off. They were in the right location for the guy they were after but instead of 20 men surrounding the area there was about 40.

"Show time boys!" Jason said.

Each man shot to kill. None of them missing the target. They had taken out about 15 men before any of them could even realize what was going on. Once they did and started shooting back, that's when things got a bit hairy.

Although they had taken out a considerable amount of men, they were still outnumbered and disadvantaged. These men knew the layout of the building. That had planned for raids by Americans. They had all assumed their positions and started shooting back. Sonny and Ray had each taken a shot to the vest. The impact was enough to knock the wind out of them briefly but not enough to keep them down. They each got up angrier than they were before and killing anything that moved that got in their way.

Clay and Jason were on the other side of the building when a grenade was thrown. Lucky for them they weren't close enough for it to cause major injuries. It was however close enough for it to cause the wall they were standing by to collapse on top of them, trapping them.

Brock and Trent witnessed what had happened and quickly took out all the threats necessary to be able to free both Jason and Clay.

They were a little banged up but nothing major enough for them to not be able to complete the mission. Clay received a concussion and multiple bruises and lacerations. Jason receiving the same plus a broken hand.

Once they had taken everyone out and captured the guy they were sent to get the mission was complete and they were able to return back to base.

When they landed the first thing Clay did was call Stella. When she didn't answer he tried again. Still no answer. He was starting to get the feeling that something wasn't right.

"Everything alright Kid?" Sonny asked lightly slapping Clay on the shoulder who winced slightly, still sore from being trapped under the wall.

"Stella's not answering her phone. I'm sure it's nothing." He told him.

Jason had offered to give him a ride to Stella's since Clay's car was still in the shop.. When he got there he noticed her car was in the parking lot. He thanked Jason and told him he would call him in about an hour so that they could discuss some things from the mission. That first he wanted to check on Stella. Jason agreed and then pulled away. Clay ran up the stairs ignoring the aching in his muscles and found that the door was unlocked. When he twisted the knob and pushed the door open he was terrified by what he was looking at.

The place was a mess. Clearly showing signs of a struggle. He walked in, looking to see if any evidence was left behind that could lead to where Stella might be. He slowly walked down the hall towards the bedroom and went to grab his phone out of his pocket to call the police. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Mike sitting on the bed waiting for him and Stella tied to a chair with tape covering his mouth.

He was so focused on Stella that he didn't even notice the third person that appeared out of nowhere and knocked him out.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on kid! Pick up the phone!" Jason said bouncing his leg up and down. Clay had told him he would call in an hour. It's now been two and still no word from him.

"I'm sure he's just busy with Stella." Mandy said to him, trying to calm him down. She could see the worry all over his face.

"I should have went up with him. I shouldn't have left him alone so I could do what, come have lunch?" He was beating himself up. He knew something wasn't right. Clay was always a man of his word. If he said he was gonna call in an hour, he was gonna call in an hour.

"Don't to this to yourself Jason. None of this is your fault. I'm sure he's fine." Mandy was still trying to calm him down.

"I need to get out of here. I need to drive over there and see for myself." Jason said as he stood up and headed for the door, not even waiting for Mandy to reply.

On his way over to Stella's he called Ray and Sonny to see if either of them had heard from Clay. Neither of them had but they both offered to meet Jason there. They all pulled into the parking lot at the same time. With Jason leading the way, the three men walked up the stairs and pounded on the door. No answer. Jason tried again. Still nothing. Since knocking wasn't working he decided to try calling Clay again. Still no answer.

"Wait… Ya'll hear that?" Sonny asked putting his ear up against the door.

"I don't hear anything" "Nope." Jason and Ray answered simultaneously.

"Call his phone again. I think I hear it ringing."

Jason dialed Clay's number again and sure enough they all heard it ring this time.

"This can't be good" Ray whispered.

Jason tried the door knob and was super surprised to find that it was unlocked. He opened the door and the three men just stood there taking in the sight in front of them.

"God dammit! I knew I should have went up with him!" Jason said, beating himself up all over again.

"Don't touch anything. We need to call the police." Ray said pulling out his phone as they walked throughout the apartment to make sure no one was inside.

Once the apartment was clear they decided to figure out their next course of action.

"The police should be here any second." Ray commented.

"There's no way I'm leaving this to the police to handle. We can find him way quicker than they can." Jason chimed in.

The police arrived within 2 minutes. They questioned the three men, particularly Jason considering he looks like he got into some sort of physical altercation from the wall falling on top of him. They wanted to know everything they knew, especially about Mike.

Once the three men were cleared, they all left and headed to Jason's. They called Brock, Trent, Mandy, and Lisa and told them to meet them there. Between all of them they had enough whit's to find Clay without help from police. They knew Mike was involved and it wasn't too hard to find out his whereabouts. Once they find Mike, they find Clay.

* * *

Clay woke up with a killer headache. He already had a concussion and taking another hit to the head, hard enough to knock him out, definitely didn't help make it feel any better. He opened his eyes and didn't recognize anything about his surroundings. He blinked hard a couple times trying to get rid of the blurry vision. It helped a little but not completely. Suddenly he realized his wrists were tied together and that he was hanging from the ceiling.

He looked around a little more, trying to desperately find anything that would let him know where he was. He just about scanned the entire room when he noticed Stella, still tied to a chair with her back to him off in a corner. He tried to call her name but was unable to due to the tape covering his mouth, which annoyed him. He tried to make some sort of noise to catch her attention but she remained motionless. His mind started wondering. _Is she dead? Is she just unconscious? Maybe she's awake and just not moving._

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of a door slamming shut.

"Ahhh Mr. Spenser. You're awake. How wonderful." The voice said, coming from behind making it almost impossible for Clay to see who it was. The man slowly made his way over to Clay, running a finger down his bare back, literally sending a chill down Clay's spine. He was wearing nothing his pants, exposing his bruised and cut up torso from being trapped under the wall.

Paul stood behind Clay for a few minutes because he knew it was making him nervous, which ultimately made him squirm. He watched Clay grow more and more frustrated with not knowing who was behind him. He knew it wasn't Mike. This guy's voice was too deep for it be him. Eventually Paul moved to the front of Clay, allowing Clay to see him for the first time.

Clay eyed him up and down. Taking in the guy's size and weight and calculating how he was going to make his escape. Paul knew exactly what he was doing. He looked up and Clay with an evil grin that made Clay feel uneasy. He then walked over to Stella and turned her around so that she was facing Clay.

She looked at Clay with heavy eyes. She had a bruise forming on her right cheek and eye. Clay stopped eyeing Paul up and started inspecting Stella. It was very clear to him that Stella had been drugged. Other than that and the bruise on her face she looked physically fine.

"This is all because of you." Paul told her. "As soon as Mike gets here, your little boy toy over there is going to wish he never got involved with you. And lucky for you, you get a front row seat to watch.

The drugs were starting to wear off and she was becoming more aware of her surroundings. She wasn't fully aware yet but she was aware enough to understand the words that had just been said to her. She looked over at Clay and let a tear fall from her eyes. She gave Clay a look that broke his heart because he knew how guilty she already felt and nothing serious had even happened to him yet.

All Clay wanted to do was tell her to close her eyes and not to worry, that he could handle whatever this guy planned to do to him. The tape covering his mouth prevented that so he had to settle with a head nod to let her know that he was fine. _I'll be fine baby. Don't worry about me. Jason and the guys will find me. I never called him. They have to know I'm missing by now. They will leave no stone unturned until they find me._ Clay had become lost in his thoughts but they were the only thing giving him hope at the moment.

Five minutes later they heard the door again and Clay knew instantly that it had to be Mike. Paul looked up with that evil grin again and welcomed Mike with a hug.

"Show time." Mike informed Paul, who then focused his attention back to Clay.


	5. Chapter 5

Paul had evil in his eyes and Clay knew whatever he planned wasn't going to be fun, but he had to stay strong for Stella. He walked over to a table covered by a blanket. He removed the blanket unveiling multiple tools that were meant to do harm. Knives of multiple shapes and sizes, metal bars of different thicknesses and lengths, tasers. Paul slowly slid his hand over a few of the items on the table before deciding on his first weapon of choice. He settled with the taser.

He then walked over to Clay and without saying a word tased him on his side. Clay winced and wiggled trying to get away from it, groaning through the tape still covering his mouth. Once Paul stopped, Clay relaxed and try to catch his breath, knowing another one was coming soon.

He could hear Stella in the background begging Paul to stop. He almost had his breathing back under control when he felt the taser hit his body again. This time it lasted a few seconds longer than the first but it felt like it was never ending. When it did end Clay had a harder time catching his breath.

Paul removed the tape covering Clay's mouth. "Can't have you passing out on me just yet. We're just getting started. Catch your breath."

Clay wanted to speak. To tell Paul and Mike to go fuck themselves and Stella that he'd be fine but he couldn't. His head was killing him, vision still slightly blurry, muscles aching and it hurt like hell trying to regain control of his breathing. Paul walked over to the table to put the taser down and grab his next weapon. With Paul no longer in the way, Mike walked over to Clay and smirked at him. "I told her I was going to kill you if you didn't back off my girl."

"I'm not your fucking girl." Stella chimed in, causing glares to be sent her way from both Paul and Mike. Clay smiled at her response.

Mike looked back over at Clay and saw his smile. "What the hell are you smiling at?" Before Clay could respond Mike's fist made contact with his stomach. Hard.

"Fuck you" Clay whispered.

Mike responded by throwing another fist, connecting with Clay's jaw and breaking it and then walking away to let Paul continue doing his dirty work.

Paul returned with a long, thin metal bar. He looked up at Clay, locking eye contact, taking note of the blood Clay spit out of his mouth, which landed on Paul's shoes. He then grabbed the bar with both hands and hit Clay hard on the left side.

It hurt like hell, definitely breaking a few ribs on contact, but he controlled his scream for Stella's sake.

The lack of reaction infuriated Paul. He swung at clay again, this time making contact with his right ankle. Clay stuck by his guns and didn't make more than grunting noise. Paul slowly walked circles around Clay, checking out the bruises that covered his body from the wall collapse.

"Those are some pretty serious bruises you got there, they must be feeling prettttttty good right about now." Paul teased. On his second circle around Clay he stopped when he got behind him. He lifted the bar up again and nailed him square in the back, and then again almost instantly right on the worst bruise he could find which was on his right shoulder blade. This time Clay screamed in pain.

The pressure on his shoulders became almost unbearable now. He felt the weight of his entire body as he hung by his wrists from the ceiling.

Stella continued begging them to stop as she tried to hold back tears, which just wasn't happening. She had tried to turn away or close her eyes but Mike wouldn't allow it. He knew watching Clay suffer was hurting Stella more than any physical injury would. He forced her to continue watching.

Satisfied that he had finally gotten a reaction out of Clay, he walked back over to his table. He put the bar back from where he had gotten it from and grabbed a knife with an 8 inch blade with a saw back.

Clay barely lifted his head as Paul walked back over, too busy concentrating on his breathing, and trying not to move as every movement sent waves of pain throughout his body. Paul put a finger under Clay's chin and lifted his head up, forcing eye contact.

"You ain't dying on me yet are you?" He asked. "Cause we still have one more round to go."

Clay watched as Paul played with the knife in his hands. He then lifted it up and sliced through the rope that was holding Clay up. Clay was unable to bare any weight causing him to fall flat to the ground.

"Get up." Paul demanded. Standing over Clay.

Clay tried as hard as he could, but he could barely move let alone stand. Paul kicked him hard in the side causing Clay to roll over.

"You know for a SEAL I thought you would have had more fight in you. You should be ashamed." Paul said grabbing Clay and forcing him up against a wall. He tried as hard as he could to hold his weight on his left leg, unable to put any pressure on his right ankle.

Clay looked at Paul with a cocky smile, trying to hide the pain and fear that he was really feeling. The smile pissed Paul off, ultimately leading him to dig the knife into Clay's stomach.

Clay's smile quickly disappeared as he felt the knife enter his body. His eyes got wide. He felt Paul twist the knife before slowly pulling it out, feeling every tooth of the saw edged blade as it exited his body and he fell to the ground. He heard Stella start crying hysterically and screaming "NO!" trying desperately to free herself from the chair she was confined to, to go run over to him. Heard Mike laughing and clapping his hands. Felt Paul step over him and then kneel down, with one knee on either side of Clay.

As Clay laid there on the ground he became more and more light headed as he lost more and more blood. He could still hear Stella crying. He heard other voices but they became muffled in his head as he fought to stay conscious.

The next thing Clay felt was the knife enter his body again, this time in the chest. Almost immediately after he heard a whole lot of commotion.

Bravo team along with the local police stormed the abandoned warehouse. Jason and the team had been able to track down the whereabouts of Mike's phone and informed the police that were working the case, considering they technically shouldn't have been working the case in the first place. Due to their training level and knowledge of raids, the police had agreed to let them join in on raid as long as they were unarmed and stayed out of the way.

As soon as they entered the room, they immediately noticed Stella crying hysterical and tied to chair. The next thing they noticed was Clay laying on the ground in a pool of blood with a knife sticking out of his chest and Paul sitting over top of him. Before Paul could even react one of the officers put a bullet straight through his head.

Jason and Sonny ran right over to Clay while the rest of the team freed Stella from the chair and ran to be by Clay's side.

The officers easily got a hold of Mike and instantly arrested him. Once the scene was secure the cops radioed that it was safe for the paramedics to enter.

Jason was sitting on the ground with Clay between his legs, his head resting on the inside of his leg. Sonny desperately tried to control the bleeding as much as he could until the paramedics could reach them and Stella sat at his side talking to him and non-stop apologizing.

"Come on kid! Don't do this! Stay with us!" Jason said lightly tapping Clay on the cheek, keeping his eyes open as he noticed him trying to close them.

"Where the fuck are those God damn Medics!?" Sonny said desperately.

Almost as if on que the medics rushed in and immediately got to work.


	6. Chapter 6

As the medics rushed in they quickly replaced Jason and Sonny. The medic who was now at Clay's head, where Jason had been, was placing a cervical collar around Clay's neck. A second medic, who was now where Sonny had been, was putting pressure with large gauze pads on his abdomen to temporarily slow the bleeding while a third medic was using roller gauze to wrap around the knife that still remained in Clay's chest, to control bleeding and keep it from moving until a surgeon could remove it. Once the medic was done securing the knife, he moved down to where the second medic was applying pressure and applied more roller gauze to help keep pressure.

Clay was conscious. His eyes were open, although he felt like they would close at any second. He wasn't entirely aware of what was going on. Every now and then he would hear someone call his name. He would blink and look into that direction with his eyes but couldn't focus on anything.

As soon as the medics were able to get the bleeding under control, they carefully rolled him onto a backboard and rushed to the ambulance. They only allowed Stella to ride in the ambulance with him because they wanted her to get checked out as well and she refused to get in a separate ambulance. The rest of Bravo team followed closely behind on the way to the hospital.

Luckily the hospital was fairly close. As they pulled up there was a team of doctors already waiting to take Clay straight to the operating room. Once he was gone, another doctor came to check out Stella. She was diagnosed with a concussion and received 8 stiches on her cheek and forehead before releasing her. Once released she headed straight to the waiting room.

As soon as she entered the waiting room every single set of eyes from Bravo team looked up at her. She wasn't sure how to feel. In her mind it was entirely her fault that Clay was in this position and automatically assumed they blamed her as well. She scanned the room for empty seats and finally settled on one across the waiting room from Bravo team which would put her back to them.

Once she was seated she leaned her head on her hand and tried to control her emotions but she kept replaying the mental images and cries from Clay in her head. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get them out of her head. She felt so guilty.

On the other side of the waiting room the guys from Bravo team recognized the guilty look on Stella's face. They knew she blamed herself, but not one of them blamed her for a thing. Jason stood up first, followed by the rest of the team and they all silently walked over to the area where Stella was sitting and sat down next to her.

She looked up in surprise, with a bit of fear on her face, unsure if they had only come over to confirm the blame she thought they had towards her.

Jason, who sat down to the right of her, placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in towards him. In that moment Stella instantly lost all control and started balling her eyes out, causing Jason to pull her in even closer and wrapped both arms around her.

"I'm… sorry." Stella sobbed into his shoulder.

Jason pulled back a bit, putting his hands on her shoulders so that they could make eye contact. "Look at me Stella. Nobody here blames you for a God damn thing. You hear me?"

Stella looked around at everyone's faces and they all shook their heads in agreement. She felt better knowing that they didn't blame her but that didn't stop her from blaming herself.

"That kid is head over heels for you," Sonny told her, hoping it would help. "You're all he talks about anymore. Stella this and Stella that. It was starting to make me sick!" He joked, getting her to crack a smile.

"We mean it Stella. Don't blame yourself. None of it's your fault, understand?" Jason asked. Stella shook her head yes and began feeling a bit better.

About an hour later Mandy and Lisa stood up. "It's gonna be a long night. We'll be back. We're heading to the cafeteria to get drinks and sandwiches for everyone. It's going to be a few hours at least before we hear anything."

They returned 45 minutes later with bags of sandwiches and bottles of water and handed them out to each person. While eating they all told funny stories about Clay as well as stories about him saving their asses on multiple occasions.

After about three hours they started becoming restless. At this point they knew no news was good news but they still wanted to know how he was doing. Every time the doors opened and a doctor entered the room they would look up hoping it would be an update on Clay. Every time they were disappointed.

Finally after a total of six and a half hours a doctor entered for them. Everybody stood up and crowded around the doctor to hear what he was saying.

"The good news is he made it through surgery. We managed to successfully remove the knife from his chest and luckily neither stab would had hit any of the major organs. On top of that he had multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung mild internal bleeding, two dislocated shoulders, a broken shoulder blade, a broken jaw and a broken ankle. He has a deep bone bruise on his back as well."

"Damn Doc… If that's the good news then how bad is the bad news?" Sonny asked.

"The bad news is the he did lose quite a bit of blood and required a transfusion. He coded twice while on the table and the surgeons struggled to get him back but they were able to get him back. His body suffered a good deal of trauma. Because of that we have decided that the best course of action at this moment would be to keep him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator to ensure he gets rest to help his body heel." The doctor stated as everyone's hearts sank and causing Stella's guilt to build back up.

"When can we see him?" Jason asked.

"He has just come out of surgery and is getting settled into his room. You should be able to visit once he's settled in about a half hour. I'll come get you when it's time."

Once the doctor left everyone sat back down. They were relieved he made it through surgery but they all knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. They also knew they had more than just Clay to worry about as the guilt was written all over Stella's face once again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys sorry it took so long to update. I really struggled with writing this last chapter and couldn't figure out how to end it. Endings aren't my strong point so I did the best I could. Hope you enjoyed it.**

Once Clay was settled into his room the doctor went out to the waiting room to inform everyone that they were now able to head towards his room. As everyone stood up, Ray noticed Stella didn't move. He nudged Jason and nodded over towards Stella.

"You guys go, I'll Catch up" Jason told the rest of the team as he walked towards Stella and sat down next to her.

They sat there silently for a few minutes before Stella finally spoke up "I can't do this. I can't see him like this."

Jason leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and looked at Stella "Look Stella. None of this is your fault. Clay knew what was going on. Normally he'd be able to handle it, come out on top..."

"Obviously not. Look where we are Jason." Stella interrupted.

"He wasn't on top of his game Stella. That last mission we were on he was hurt, got his bell rung pretty good. We both did, and I knew…" Jason paused as guilt consumed him. "I knew he was putting on a show, that he was hurt more than he was leading on but I kept my mouth shut. How could I sell him out when I was doing the same damn thing?"

Stella stared at Jason for a moment, taking in this new information. She had seen the cuts and bruises but had just assumed they were all Mike and Paul related. Knowing he was hurt when he arrived home didn't entirely help the situation but it did help her feel less guilty. "I didn't know he was hurt. I saw a few cuts on his face but figured they were just scrapes from something simple. I had no clue he had a head injury."

"He did, and he was definitely sore all over. Kid hides it well but you can't bullshit a bullshitter." Jason winked trying to make them both feel better. "I should have gone up with him. Any other time I would have but I was sore, tired and hungry. I just wanted to grab a bite to eat and get home."

Suddenly Stella knew exactly where Jason was going with this conversation. She wanted to tell him there was no way he could blame himself and she was about to until she realized he was making a point that she also couldn't blame herself. That the only people who could be blamed were Paul and Mike.

"He needs you Stella. He's gonna be laid up for a few weeks once he gets out of here and if he's anything like the rest of us he's gonna try to convince everyone he's fine and come back too soon. You gotta be there for him and keep your eye on him. Can you do that? Can you be there for him?"

Stella hesitantly shook her head yes. She felt a sense of responsibility but still wasn't sure how she was going to face Clay.

"Good, then let's go see our boy." Jason said as he stood up and they both walked to Clay's room.

About a week and a half later the doctors decided they wanted to start waking Clay up but they wanted to do it a little at a time. The doctors had successfully weaned him off of the ventilator a few days earlier. They then started slowly waking him up, enough for him to momentarily open his eyes but not quite enough for him to really realize where he was or what was going on.

Once his eyes were open everyone from Bravo plus Stella stood up from where they were seated. Clay's eyes slowly wondered around the room, stopping when they landed on Stella. Moments later his eyes closed and he fell back into unconsciousness.

"What's going on? Is he okay? Why is he out again?" Stella started to panic.

"Everything's fine. We still have him highly sedated. We will lessen the dosage every day until we get to the point where he will no longer need any sedation. It should only take a couple of days." The doctor informed everyone.

Once the doctor left the room everyone returned to their seats. They all spent their free time at the hospital with Clay.

It took almost four days for Clay to no longer need any sedation. Stella was constantly by his side. She no longer blamed herself to the point where she couldn't face him. She still felt a bit of guilt but also had a sense of responsibility that she needed to be there for him. Throughout this entire ordeal their relationship grew stronger and although it was a tough situation they both liked where things were going.

A few days later the doctors released Clay from the hospital under strict orders. "He's going to be quite sore for a few more weeks but we are very pleased with how everything is healing. I would like him to remain on bed rest for about a week. After next week, as long as things are still improving, we can put that ankle in a walking boot and get you up and moving around a bit. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like I'm ready for it to be next week." Clay joked anxiously. He was getting tired of being fussed over and laying around, but at the same time enjoyed the fact that Stella was the one doing most of the fussing.

During the ride home Clay kept trying to convince Stella to stop somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat. "Come on babe, just something quick. I'm gonna be cooped up for at least another week. One quick stop won't kill me." He pleaded, pulling out his best puppy dog look.

"I promised the doctors that I would take you straight home so that's what I'm going to do. I'll make you whatever you want when we get there."

Clay jokingly rolled his eyes and gave in. He knew she wasn't going to give in so he dropped the subject.

When they pulled up to his apartment Stella parked the car and ran over to get Clays door for him. Getting him into his apartment was a harder task than either of them anticipated but nonetheless they made it. As Clay opened the door he was surprised to see a big welcome home banner hanging on his wall and everyone from Bravo team and their support staff.

Clay was glad to see everyone and now understood the real reason Stella refused to stop anywhere on the way home. He turned to her, gave her a kiss and thanked her for planning this. Jason and Sonny then took Clay from Stella and helped him over to the reclining chair so he could relax. Davis had ordered enough pizza to feed a small army, which in a way she was, and everyone else had pitched in for the beer.

Clay sat back and observed his friends… No, his family… joking and carrying on in his apartment. He couldn't help but smile. Sure the welcome home party was because of shitty circumstances but he was ok with it. _I'm a lucky man. I'm alive, I have the best job in the world with the greatest group of people I have ever met and the most beautiful girl by my side and as soon as I'm better I'm going to make sure they all know just how grateful I really am_ Clay thought as he snapped out of his head and back into the conversation that was going on around him. Things weren't perfect yet, but within a few weeks he had no doubt there would be.


End file.
